The processing of a silver halide color photographic material (hereinafter referred to as "light-sensitive material") essentially consists of two steps; color development and desilvering. In other words, a light-sensitive material which has been exposed to light is transferred to a color development step where silver halide contained therein is reduced with a color developing agent to form silver and the resulting oxidation product of the color developing agent reacts with a coupler to give a dye image. The light-sensitive material is then transferred to a desilvering step where silver produced at the color development step is oxidized with an oxidizer (commonly known as a "bleaching agent"), dissolved, and removed by a silver ion complexing agent (commonly known as "a fixing agent"). A light-sensitive material subjected to these steps eventually forms a dye image. In addition to color development and desilvering, the development step also comprises auxiliary steps (e.g., a hardening bath, a stop bath, a rinse bath, and a stabilizing bath) to maintain the photographic and physical properties of the developed images or to improve image preservability.
The desilvering step may be effected in two ways. One way is effected in a beaching bath and a fixing bath which are separately provided; and the other is effected in only one step in a blix bath wherein a bleaching agent and a fixing agent are both present to simplify processing in order to expedite processing and save labor.
In recent years, to avoid water contamination and reduce processing costs, techniques for eliminating the amount of waste water in the processing steps have been studied and used in some processing steps. In particular, various approaches have been proposed to avoid the large amount of waste water discharged from the color development step. Examples of such approaches include methods utilizing electrodialysis as disclosed in JP-A-54-37731, JP-A-56-1048, JP-A-56-1049, JP-A-56-27142, JP-A-56-33644, JP-A-56-149036 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application"), and JP-B-61-10199 (the term "JP-B" as used herein means an "examined Japanese patent publication"); various color developer regeneration methods utilizing activated carbon as disclosed in JP-B-55-1571 and JP-A-58-14831; ion exchange membranes as disclosed in JP-A-52-105820; and ion exchange resins as disclosed in JP-A-55-144240, JP-A-57-146249, and JP-A-61-95352.
However, all these methods require controlling the formulation of the developer by analysis, and thus, require a high level of control and expensive apparatus. As a result, these methods are practiced in some large scale laboratories.
On the other hand, a low replenishment processing method has been practiced wherein the formulation of the color developer replenisher (hereinafter referred to as the "color development replenisher") is controlled to reduce the replenishment rate without using such a regeneration method. The control of the formulation of the replenisher in this low replenishment processing method simply comprises concentrating consumable components such as color developing agent and preservative so that these components can be supplied in the required amounts even if the replenishment rate is reduced. When a silver halide color photographic material is processed, halogen ions are released into the color developer. In this low replenishment processing, the color developer shows a rise in bromine ion concentration, inhibiting development. Therefore, in order to eliminate this difficulty, an approach is normally practiced wherein the bromide concentration in the replenisher is lower than the ordinary replenishment processing method.
In addition to inhibition of water contamination and reduction of the processing cost, such a low replenishment processing method can be advantageously practiced without continual analysis of the formulation of the processing solution.
On the other hand, it has been keenly desired to reduce the time required for the above mentioned processing steps to enable a rapid response to orders from customers. In particular, the reduction of the desilvering time, which has previously accounted for the largest part of the processing, was most desired. Particularly, it has been desired to expedite bleaching.
The rate of replenishment of the color developer which has been heretofore practiced depends on the type of the light-sensitive material. For color negative films for photographing, this value is normally in the range of 900 to 1,200 ml per m.sup.2 of light-sensitive material. In some cases, the processing is effected at a replenishment rate of 600 ml per m.sup.2 of light-sensitive material to meet the demand for low replenishment rate.
However, it has been found that when such a low replenishment method is employed to effect a rapid desilvering process, the problem of delay in desilvering becomes important. Therefore, it has been desired to develop an approach which can both meet the demand for rapid desilvering and exhibit the advantages of simple replenishment processing.